Madder than Mad
by Dr.Obsessive
Summary: What happens to the Hatter and Wonderland after Alice leaves. Is there any chance that she will come back? Rated T because I'm paranoid. Spoilers for Burton's movie! Possible Alicex Hatter
1. Prologue

Mk so please no one kill me, I lacked a computer for two months and lost all my work. So anything on fanfiction is safe but any unpublished chapters bit the dust.

THIS FANFIC CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DA MOVIE! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, NAUGHTY!

On another note this is my first Alice fanfic, which is very exciting! I have a whole story planned out but as I am so busy I do not know how quickly I will be updating, it will probably be related to reviews and other such happy things so keep that in mind it you liked it.

So anyhoo, I don't own Alice or Wonderland or Johnny or Tim (I would be so happy if I did). I also don't own the letter "M" but my name starts with "M" so yeah…. :p

Ahh and I am my only beta and this was written in the dead of night when I should have been sleeping or doing applications.

* * *

Prologue

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It came seemingly out of nowhere, a large black and purple hole that twirled and spun; engulfing Alice in mere seconds after she drank the Jabberwocky's blood. The inhabitants looked on in varying degrees of sadness; well, all except for one.

Hatter stood just before where the black hole was, green-eyed, peppy bowed, and gap-toothed. It was quite possibly one of the saddest moments in all of Underland's history, but the Hatter stood there smiling, looking for all the land like he received a shiny new tea pot. At least, that how he appeared to others who didn't know him quite so well; but after three-hundred years of knowing the Hatter, his friends were not quite so easily convinced. While the Hatter was indeed mad, it was obvious to those around him that he cared for Alice and even though he was insane, smiling was not a response they expected from him. It was with these thoughts in mind; the newly crowned White Queen felt it best to check on her hatter.

"Hatter?" The queen asked cautiously. The Hatter turned to her, smile still on his face.

"Yes, your Majesty?" he replied, surprisingly formal. The Queen hesitated, she did not want to send him into one of his rages, but she was now truly worried about her subject. She decided to tread lightly, so to speak.

"If I may ask you a question?"

"Why you just did!" The Hatter giggled, further fuel for the Queen's growing worry.

"Ah, indeed I did. May I ask you a series of questions then?" The Hatter's face grew a little more somber.

"Why of course your Majesty, what would you like to know?" The Queen fretted; she wasn't quite sure how to phrase her question without upsetting him, but she knew that she would have to be blunt with him.

"Are you not upset that Alice has left, Hatter?" The Hatter cocked his head at her, looking confused.

"Why should I be upset?" The Queen was truly baffled now; she decided to get directly to the heart of the matter, regardless of what it could do to her mad friend.

"Alice is gone Hatter. She went back to her world to live her life. She's eventually going to get married, have kids, and die. It is very unlikely she that she is going to come back. Why aren't you sad?" In her frustration the Queen had let her airy façade slip and she allowed he emotions to leak through spilling a few tears as well. The Hatter's eyes grew wide at the Queen's outburst, yet his reaction was not expected.

"Please don't cry, my Queen!" The Hatter yelped, surprised by the Queen's emotion. "Alice will come back, she always does! And this time she said she would remember me… remember all of us! And we can have tea and a party and a TEA PARTY!" The Hatter was frantic at this point, simultaneously trying to convince the queen and himself that Alice would come back for them.

His friends watched from afar staring at the hatter, who by this point was completely around the bend. There was finality in Alice's words and she did not intend on coming back. They were worried about Hatter's deteriorating mental state, what would happen once he realized that he would never see Alice again? They shook their heads, yet only Chess was brave enough and slightly sane enough to stop this madness.

"Your Majesty, I will talk some sense into Tarrant, I am his oldest friend." The cat gave her his most charming smile. "If anyone of us can make Tarrant see the truth, it will be me." The queen looked at him steadily, amazed at the cat's newfound braveness.

"So be it, I must return to my castle to see that everything is in order now." She was helped onto her horse, yet she looked at the madman and madcat one last time. "Good luck, Chess. And thank you Tarrant, for your help. I hope to see you two in my castle when you are ready." With that she rode off, red cards and white chess pieces in tow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

While Chess may have taken it upon himself to make his friend see the truth, it is truly a difficult task to get one as mad as a hatter to see something when they believed otherwise. The Hatter, once dismissed by the Queen, took that as his cue to run to Hare's house to make the tea table presentable for Alice's next, unknown arrival. It took all the cat's skills (evaporating and others) to keep up with the madman, both physically and mentally, as Tarrant was spouting fast gibberish as he set the table.

Chess tried everything to make his friend see the truth. He talked to him sweetly, yelled at the top of his lungs, repeated "Alice isn't coming back" over and over until his grey stripes turned blue. He tried to show Tarrant the facts and when that didn't work he tried following logic that only the mentally deranged could understand. Chess was about to give up, he had tried everything. Besides, surely leaving the madman in perpetual hope and denial wasn't the worst thing, right?

It was on this day, Animadverto day (approximately three months after Frabjous day, if time visited), that Chess had a marvelous idea of how to get his dear friend to see the truth. He found the hatter sitting in his same chair, in his same clothes, drinking the same tea as the day when Alice arrived. Chess knew the hatter was grieving; he would NEVER do anything the same if he was in his right wrong mind. So with his foolproof idea, he set to work on his plan.

Chess sat down at the table across from Hatter, carefully picking up the tea in front of him (opposable thumbs are overrated). Mally and Thackery were sat at the table, doing their best to act their joyous, crazy selves; yet their worry could be seen on their faces. They looked at Chess curiously, they noticed he was smiling; a rare occurrence since Alice left and Tarrant went into denial. Chess cleared his throat, ready to set his plan to action.

"Tarrant, my dear friend, you seem to be doing much of the same stuff around here. Quite boring don't you think?" Chess winked, Mally and Thackery taking that as a cue to start nodding.

"Why I want everything to be perfect for when Alice arrives, I don't want to accidentally not be here waiting when she comes."

"Ahh, but you haven't done anything different Tarrant; I'm starting to think you've lost your youness, your MUCHNESS." Chess glanced up at Tarrant from his tea and saw his eyes flash dangerously for a moment. Soon enough they were green once again and Tarrant put on a forced smile.

"I could accuse you of the same; I haven't seen you smiling recently." The tension was building, Thackery was soon grabbing for his ears in suspense.

"Yes, well I have a good reason for not smiling. I feel like I've lost a dear friend and I'm not talking about Alice. I'm talking about YOU, Tarrant, you don't do anything fun anymore. In fact, if I didn't know you better I would have thought that you were actually SANE." Mally and Thackery gasped, never had such an insult been said at the table before. They looked on in fear, as the Hatter's eyes turned from a vibrant green to a dark orange- brown. He stood up, his voice reverting into it threatening Scottish accent as he walked toward the cat.

"_You're a good for nothing coward. A traitorous, unloved, mangy, flee ridden, parasiti__c, __slurking urpal slackush scrum__…."_

"HATTER" Mally screamed, after having tapped on a tea cup to no avail. The Hatter paused in his rant, yet his eyes did not change color as he stared at the cat. His friends were terrified, he had never been this mad for this long, and it was starting to show just how deeply the hatter was hurt. Chess knew this would happen, so he continued to the last part of his plan.

"Tarrant, you've lost your muchness to Alice; she took it with her when she left. If you're so certain that she is coming back, prove it. The Oraculum will know if Alice plans on coming back, you should talk to Absolem too and see what he thinks. I'll go with you if that helps." Chess let his word sink in, as he watched Tarrant's angry face calm, his eyes very slowly changing to green.

"Hey that's a great idea! Then I can prove to you all that she IS coming back." And with that the hatter took off towards the garden, leaving Mally, Thackery, and Chess in the dust. Mally looked towards the hare and saw he was trying to hide behind a cup of tea. She turned to Chess, taking matters into her own paws.

"Do you really think that the Oraculum will say that Alice is coming back, Chess?"

"I don't know what it will say Mally. He could be right, you know, Alice could come back and it will be a joyous day if she does. But if she isn't ever coming back he needs to know. You can't fix something that doesn't know it's broken, and Tarrant is very broken." Chess said with a sigh. He let himself gently float to the sky, hovering over the table. "I best go check up on him now. Once I find out what Absolem and the Oraculum have to say I'll send someone to tell you." With that the cat disappeared, leaving a frown in his wake.

* * *

So it's a slower start than I wanted, but (whoop) there it is. I'm not sure how many chapters I plan on having, but I'm excited 'cause I usually do one-shots or two-parters. So tell me whatcha think!


	2. Back Again Alice?

Awesomeness= how many reviews, favorites, and alerts I got. They made me smile ^.^!!! Anyhoo I shall try to update frequently (I had a scary Spanish oral this week which delayed me a bit), these next few weeks look good 'cause I get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow so I will have more time + spring break time. (This is hoping I won't be too affected by the pain medication o.O)

Disclaimer- Alice in Wonderland was written in 1865, and I'm insulted if you think I am that old, really now. As for the movie, I could only wish to have some claim on it. but I don't. Also this fic has SPOILERS for the movie aka don't read if you don't want to be spoiled!

Soooo, I love Hatter and Cheshire, so rest assured they are going to be all over this fic; but for now let us check in on Alice…

* * *

Eleven years. That was how long it had taken for Alice to answer her questions and fulfill all her wishes in her world. She had followed her father's dream and beyond, not only setting up trading posts in China, but throughout Asia, India, and portions of Africa. It was an incredibly successful venture, both financially and (for Alice) curiosity-wise. She continued her father's dream, learned much about the world around her, and strengthened the muchness that she had found within her in Underland. She had seen everything she wanted, traveled farther than any other woman could claim, and learned about other cultures from her own world that could almost rival Underland in strangeness. And while she didn't regret any of her decisions; she found that while she was away her mind would frequently wander back to the place she knew as Wonderland. The simplest thing would set off her memories, drinking tea in China, the bright colored fabric in India, and the exotic look of Africa; all these would take her thoughts back to Wonderland. Having answered all her questions and growing up (maturity-wise not size-wise) a great deal, she was ready for a new adventure.

Normally, when looking for adventure, one tends to wander away from home. This was not the case for Alice, however, who had had her fill of adventure in her world and was ready to go towards home. Not to her childhood home, but to the place where she truly felt at home. Underland, or as she preferred, Wonderland was her real home, where curiosity begot curiosity and the tenants there were only slightly madder than she. Wonderland where every day was an adventure and words like "etiquette" and "proper" were replaced by "disorder" and "madness; " where she didn't receive critical looks and harsh words because she like not gasping for breath through a silly corset.

Wonderland was just a carriage ride away and she fully intended on going there as soon as possible. There was just the matter of making a quick stop first, before disappearing once again down the rabbit hole. After all, she had some unresolved business at her childhood home.

The business related to her family relations, which were shattered during the third year of her trip. Alice's mother had died of appendicitis at the age of 45. Alice had learned of her mother's death a few days after, having received a letter from her sister; but she was in China at the time which had made it impossible to go to her funeral. It shook Alice's muchness for a short time, but she kept going with her expedition in honor of not only her father, but now her mother as well. The worst part was the reaction to her decision to continue abroad; not from the others in her home town, she could care less about them. No, her sister had been incredibly upset with her after her mother's death, accusing her of not caring for their mother. She hadn't understood Alice's decisions and Alice had lost many tears over their destroyed relationship.

Alice wasn't really sure how to remedy the situation. After the fight she and her sister had lost contact completely, whenever she wrote a letter to her sister it would be sent back to her, unopened. Alice had found out that her sister lived in the home they grew up in with Lowell and her two children, Matilda and Lewis. What Alice did know was that she couldn't have hoped for a better opportunity than now to go back to Wonderland, and this time it would be a permanent trip.

Alice thought it best to slip away quietly, not wanting to cause a disturbance with her disappearance. It wouldn't be hard, many people had forgotten her over the years; her parents weren't there to be concerned, all which left her sister. Alice absolutely refused to leave on such a bad note, but at the same time did not want to risk becoming reattached so that she couldn't go to Wonderland. So she did the only thing she could; she bundled the letters she had written to her sister all these years, telling her of why she did what she did, and giving her stories and presents to rekindle some of the love lost between them. She planned to leave these on her doorstep and be off through the first rabbit hole to Wonderland (being the one in the Ascot's back yard). She hoped that with the letters would help her sister accept what she did and live the happy, normal life she always wanted. For now all Alice could do was sit back and wait for the carriage to take her to her old home.

* * *

Alice used her best sneaking skills to creep up to the front door of her house. She gently placed the bundle of letters and gifts on the doorstep and considered knocking for a moment so that they would be found sooner, but she did not want to risk getting caught. She was dead to her sister at the moment, and she wanted to stay that way, just in a better light. Noticing that it was beginning to get dark, she knew she had to leave now; she wanted to find the hole before nightfall when it would be nigh impossible and suspicious for her to be wandering in the Ascot's backyard. She turned and left not looking back as she set off in the carriage for her next adventure. She didn't notice two sets of blue eyes peaking curiously through the window at the package she had left, or the two sets of hands that quickly brought it in to investigate.

Alice would have never found Wonderland if the ever helpful McTwisp hadn't been there to lead her to the rabbit hole once again. As she fell she contemplated her joy at this being her last big fall and the oddity that McTwisp was always able to find her when she needed him.

* * *

Oooh, I actually hadn't wanted to spend so much time with just Alice, but eleven years is a long time so I felt it necessary to do some catching up. This was possibly the hardest chapter I have ever written, I usually just focus on my favorites so it took me an awfully long time to write this. Also, I tend to do research about my subject as I am writing and put in references and allusions to make my stories better. So here are a few notes about the last two chapters (there are more than I put, these are just some ones I found interesting).

Animadverto (day) from the last chapter- it's a Latin word with a few meanings- to turn one's mind, to perceive, to take notice of. Yea, I use Latin when I want significance but not obvious detail.

Matilda and Lewis- Lewis is a reference to Lewis Carroll (whose actual name is Charles but I preferred Lewis) and Matilda was a character he had in another story (though I quite like Ronal Dahl's Matilda as well). Also I have a silly thing about matching initials, Margaret- Matilda and Lowell- Lewis, just because I find it amusing.

I don't enjoy death or killing my characters, but I couldn't see Alice leaving unless she was truly free from her bonds. So her mother died (and again I researched); 40-50 was a ripe old age in the 1860's. So I let her live to an old age because I really don't enjoy killing my characters- hurting maybe, killing no.

I researched trade in the 1860's too, but I'm not going to bore you with my findings. If something doesn't seem right with any info in my fic tell me so I can fix it.

Also I promise everything will be explained in time, while I love randomness and using seemingly random stuff, it usually has a purpose for being there. And we will defiantly catch up with Hatter and gang; I just have a certain structure in mind.


End file.
